Pop's Family Restaurant owner Gus Grigoriadis brings coffee and breakfast sandwiches to construction workers building his new restaurant on Old Gate Lane in Milford. Grigoriadis has been leasing the current New Haven Avenue location for 22 years.
Photo: Brian A. Pounds

Sabatino Kikis, son-in-law of owner Gus Grigoriadis, makes pot pies at Pop's Family Restaurant in Milford on Tuesday, January 22, 2013. The restaurant's new location is under construction on Old Gate Lane in Milford.
Photo: Brian A. Pounds

On a winter afternoon in January, Gus Grigoriadis was half-a-mile away from his Milford restaurant's warm kitchen, walking a cold construction site where his family is building the new Pop's Restaurant.

"It's a little bigger," says Gus, standing in the muddy lot outside the recently framed structure at 134 Old Gate Lane. "I get to design it the way I want it. The kitchen..."

He's interrupted by his wife of 33 years, Julia, and one of his three daughters, Virginia Kikis, who disabuse him of any idea that he is making all the decisions. They've just come out of the partially constructed building.

"Did you pick out the siding?" Julia accuses him. Before he can protest, she adds, "We're picking out the siding."

"Don't get nervous," Gus, who came to America from Greece in 1975, says, showing them his hands to demonstrate his innocence.

Satisfied, they get into an SUV to run an errand. But his wife rolls the window down and jabs a finger at him, as if to hold his promise in place.

He smiles and says "It's going to be alright."

Pop's, at 587 New Haven Ave., has always been a family affair. So much so, the customers even say they feel like they're part of that family. On weekdays, more than 300 people dine daily and on weekends, the number tops 700. The family also serves a Thanksgiving dinner for people who otherwise couldn't afford one.

But the new restaurant is a fresh start for Grigoriadis family. After years of leasing, they're building a place of their own as the second generation joins the business, something that wasn't exactly expected. And an expert on family businesses says more highly educated children of business owners are doing the same thing.

About two years ago, Gus and Julia's daughters decided they wanted to treat the business as a career after working there while in high school and college. Virginia's husband, Sabatino Kikis, works in the kitchen alongside Gus, and the Kikis' children, the third generation, often make appearances at the restaurant.

"It was their choice," Julia said, explaining they never pushed the kids to join the business. They wanted them to have options. "First they get the college degree. We both felt this way."

Gus and Julia's youngest daughter, Ipakoi, graduated with a degree in business last May. Virginia also has a business degree and Eleni, the middle child, earned her degree in mathematics.

Gus said before that decision, he was planning to work about 10 more years and then retire; "I'm only 53." Now, he's not sure when retirement will come, though his daughters are adamant that he take some time off and relax.

"At the beginning of 2007, 2008, students were finding jobs after graduation -- 90 percent found jobs," he said. "Only 40 percent find them today."

That lack of opportunity opened the eyes of some of the children of business owners, he said.

Still, the rate of the next generation taking over is just 30 percent of all family businesses, he said, with the remaining 70 percent closing or being sold after the parents retire.

There are lots of reasons for it. The kids don't want to take it over or they're not qualified to. They have other interests or talents and in some cases the parents didn't expect them to.

Some parents start a business, run it and "hope they make enough money to send their kids to school," Hart said.

What Gus and his family are doing isn't easy, even with a successful restaurant to build upon, Hart said, adding, "It's courageous."

Starting something new is not new for Gus and Julia.

They're both immigrants from Greece. Gus arrived in 1975 and went to work with family members who were already running diners in New York.

He and Julia met in 1978 and were married in 1979, starting their family in the Bronx. But Gus said it was a rough time in the city and they wanted a more pastoral life for their kids. So they moved to Connecticut in 1991 and opened Pop's Donuts with a partner who moved back to Greece after being bought out more than 12 years ago.

Since then, the business changed. A Dunkin' Donuts moved in across the street 12 years ago, but the family had already expanded into the business into a restaurant.

"I thank God for Dunkin' Donuts," Gus said. He doesn't have to go to work at 11 p.m. anymore to prepare for the next morning's rush.

It's not just the economy that sparked the young women to join their parents at the restaurant.

"We just love the business," Eleni said while working behind the counter. She's staffing the register and filling coffee for the patrons at the counter. "It's fun, everyone becomes friends."

Virginia said she had a desk job for while. She missed being able to get up and move around and talk to different people. She missed the customers.

At Pop's, they hear the stories of people's lives as they unfold. As people come in and out of the restaurant, they stop at tables and talk to other regulars. Sometimes the person in the booth stands and they hug or shake hands. There's usually laughter.

This was also an opportune time for the move, with interest rates at all time lows and property values that have come down.

Gus said he got a good deal on the land, though he didn't disclose how good. He said the family did take out a loan for the project, but he doesn't like talking about finances. It's one of the few subjects he won't discuss.

Virginia said this provides them more control over the operation's costs.

"With leases, we realize rents have to go up," she said.

To build the restaurant, the family turned to long-time customer Pat Divine, owner of Divine Construction.

At the site, Divine argues with Gus over how long Pop's has been open, mainly because Divine says he can't believe he's been coming there for 22 years. He tries to insist it's only 18, but eventually gives in on the argument.

Divine said they sealed the deal, of course, over breakfast.

When the new place opens in the spring, the first customer through the door will likely be Gene Golossi.

For more than 20 years, Golossi is the first customer through the door every morning. Gus or Sabatino Kikis let him in and while they go turn on the ovens and grill and get things ready, Golossi makes the coffee for the place.

It started when Gene was still working at Avco Lycoming in Stratford.

"They're very family oriented. They're super friendly," Golossi said. One day he was sitting there waiting for his coffee while the family was getting things set up and he thought, why wait?

"I just popped behind the counter. They didn't say anything about it."

Retired for 15 years, he rarely misses his coffee shift, he said. "When I'm late or don't show up, they get worried."

And he intends on keeping his routine.

"I'm looking forward to the new place," he said.

As for Gus, he's also looking forward to the new place and he feels his role is changing, too.

When he opened the first restaurant with his partner, they called the place Pop's after his partner's father, who made the doughnuts for them, Gus said.

"The kids, the grand kids, were always saying, `Pop makes the doughnuts,' " Gus said. "Now, I'm a father and grandfather. Now, I guess I'm Pop."